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Don't be shy, give up your suggestions (if any) on how to further improve upon this most impressive piece if needed. This is an integral part of the suit that most people are too intimidated to approach (myself included). It's also a piece the Fett community has been in desperate need of .. combining accuracy with durability and ease of assembly. With all of our suggestions as a unit, we can all help this project along .. for the good of the many (I know, that sounded like Star Trek, so shoot me )

I'll be the first to step up to the plate here, with a couple if suggestions .. one artisan to another, and reserve my place in line for one of these when completed.

In final production, it might be best for weight concerns as well as durability .. to cast the rocket assembly in fiberglass. If it's hollow, it's lightweight, but stronger than a solid resin piece that can simply break in two if dropped or hit on a doorway.

The only other thing that sticks out to me, is that the main tank may be too large in diameter. But it could be distortion in tthe perspective of the pics.

With this pack cast in fiberglass, there is a possibility that it could be one of the most durable packs, as well as one of the lightest packs .. as light as a styrene pack in fact ..

There seems to be 2 threads on my jet pack right now and honestly, i dont know where to reply first :-)

First, I would like to thank Chris for graciously helping us to load these construction pics. Thanks man! :-)
I would also like to thank you guys for sharing your input and comments/suggestions.

Just like our MLC helmet, the above mock-up pics of the jet pack is constructed out of cardboard (illustration board) that acts as a basis for casting/molding in Fiberglass. The actual product would definitely be in FG.

Currently, this mock-up is being bondoed by my FG workers to smoothen out gaps & creases of the card before molding it. Its appearance now has greatly improved from what you see above.

Yes, the jet pack would be 100% FG - very light & very strong. Just like our 1/6 scale vehicles. It'll be hollow inside whereby I elected to have an opening panel at the rear for anyone wanting to modify the inside....or make use of it like a locker for food & water :-)
Since different folks would be having their own preffered harness, this opening panel would help them modify it greatly.
Naturally, if after modifying you feel not having the option of the rear panel opening up - then just cover the edges with bondo before painting.

We plan to make the jet pack into 4 components - the body, the missile & the 2 ball thrusters. You could either glue this in position or make it dettachable for storage options.
I would preffer a plug-n-play option on my jet pack ;-)

Fantastic work there Mardon. I am definately looking forward to seeing this more as it nears completion. I really love the idea of the opening to use for storage. No more worring about where you put the stuff you buy at a con!

Another helpful suggestion for accuracy, perhaps it's not too late to fix.

The image below illustrates that the "Piano Keys" are off just a bit. As you can see, it appears the only problem is that the plateau where the double arrow "<-->" is, needs to be raised and widened just a bit to reposition the piano keys for a 4x4 appearance, instead of 3x5 in relation to the angle of the two plateaus.

This would greatly improve the appearance and bring it one step closer to perfect

Hey thanks guys! We really appreciate all your comments & suggestions. Just wanna let you know that this project is a go (naturally because of all of you!) and molding will be done by next week.

And just to show you our appreciation - I'm giving off FREE chest armors to the first 5 guys who will sign up a strong interest thru Rex...how's that?!
Is this ok, Rex?
You can see the prototype of my chest armors over at the Armor section under the thread "Rex Armor".
I'll finalize pricing with Rex by next week & Rex will finalize total price once we get to figure out international shipping cost on this. Heck, I have to send one stateside, right? :-)

To answer some of your questions:

FP - muchas gracias sir for all the input - we'll try to incorporate those in the production run.

JK - it took me about 4 days building the jet pack in card. Armor took a couple of hours

MMM - give me a schematic of your 4 man canoe :-) However, dont be shock hearing how much this will cost you to ship internationally...LOL!

Guys, since i dont have an actual FG product yet, cant estimate the total weight. It would definitely be lite weight & I'm hoping somewhere between 3-4lbs. - hopefully :-)

Well I hope this is #4 responding here. Man mardon the things you can do with paper, truly amazing. All I can make is a really crappy airplane or a super aerodynamic paperwad. Keep me and everyone else updated on these.

Okay guys, in order to be eligible for the FREE armor promo, you have to send your interest to Rex - e-mail or PM to him will do.

I am not counted as #1 on the list.....infact, neither should Rex be counted as #2 (quickly ducks under the table! :-)) - so if FP is interested then he is #1 & TK-Fett should be #2.
If all falls into place, then we still have 3 slots open.

Guys, I know you're a bit weary on pricing, but I promise ya its the lowest priced JP that we could provide with your preffered material of choice - FG.

Man, I am so jazzed over this project! From wondering "what to do for a Jet Pack??" to a soon-to-be genuine MLC jet pack!!

And, you lucky Fettheads will be getting Free armor?! Shooot, it doesn't get much better than that!!!

Man, first Mardon does a sweet helmet, then a Jet Pack, right afterwards armor, and he's working on Fett boots!!

You know, none of this would have happened if I hadn't had an interest in 1/6th scale military stuff...and lo and behold! A chance meeting a few years ago has led to this, the threshold of Fett...or, Budget Boba stuff!!!

3lbs and fiberglass! Excellent! It is great to see so many people taking the leap and making their own stuff. I guess not everyone can make all the parts, so they need someone to buy from, and it's nice that there are enough people willing to put the time in that the finished products are getting better and better. I think that was a run-on sentence, but that's ok. Great job! I can't wait to see the finished thing. Also, I think it's great about the fiberglass rocket part. Resin stuff is too expensive and fragile to carry around at a con...I would be very sad when it broke.